Communications Department wins four awards

Four Communications Department projects garnered honors from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators, an organization of communications professionals dedicated to improving public-sector communications.

At the organization’s annual Northern Lights Contest awards ceremony, held May 21, the City of Minneapolis received awards for the projects listed below.

Awards of Excellence

The use of social media during an emergency. The City used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to inform residents, business owners and the news media about the impact of and City’s response to the tornado that struck North Minneapolis May 22, 2011. The first posts happened at 3:53 p.m., approximately an hour after the tornado first touched down. In the first week after the tornado, the Communications Department posted 33 messages to Facebook and Twitter. These posts earned more than 245,000 impressions and the City’s Facebook page received more than 3,200 page views from nearly 1,400 unique visitors. The department also produced 20 short videos on YouTube and shared on Facebook and Twitter.

The utility bill insert promoting the City Trees program. Thanks, in part, to the 3.5” x 8.5” insert that promoted the City Trees program, all available trees were sold within three days.

Awards of Merit

·Snow Emergency Public Service Announcement (PSA). The PSA, which was a parody of late-night TV infomercials, was designed to be fun and entertaining enough for people to watch and share with their friends on YouTube. The PSA ended with a “to order” graphic showing the Snow Emergency hotline phone number and information on how to sign up for Snow Emergency alerts.